Enhancing security through integration

As the general trend in the security industry has been leaning toward the Internet of Things (IoT), there has been a rise in demand for surveillance to be integrated with other security and facility systems. ICD Security Solutions is one company that has been providing clients with these types of solution within the Asia-Pacific region.

Based in Beijing, China, ICD is a security solutions provider that was acquired by Convergint Technologies in 2013. According to Nicholas Yap, Director of Client Relationships for APAC at ICD Security Solutions, this resulted in a synergistic relationship. “Convergint's plans were in line with what we wanted to be, which is to be able to provide a global platform for our clients.”

Primarily focused on providing services to multinational, high technology clients, ICD's current core market is made up of China, but they are aiming to diversify their markets in the near future. “Ideally, we want to see 45 percent, maximum up to like 50 percent, from Mainland China because that's still the biggest contribution too,” commented Yap. “But the rest like APJ [Southeast Asia plus Australia and Japan] and India, we would like for them to catch up another 50 percent, or even more than 50 percent.”

To facilitate the shift to integrated systems, SIs such as ICD, have been turning their focus on providing complete solutions and not just products to their clients. “So those vertical markets like retail, warehouse and factories, we like to see them as our vertical market by solution pitch but not by product pitch,” he said. “We don't want to sell them access control or sell them another set of CCTV, we want to provide this client with high-value solutions.”

Another important aspect in this transition is enabling companies to easily access and control the multiple components and features making up these integrated systems. “That is why we have this department called premium service. We are looking toward this direction,” he added. “We try to integrate more: one standard, centralized control platform for our clients. The CMS. That can cover access control, the POS system, the building automation system and the surveillance system.”

The premium service is also involved in creating and designing new solutions, such as those that can be used to increase the effectivity or replace manpower patrols. “This department is really focused on other advanced solutions like real-time location tracking system in data centers, you want to know who exactly is entering the premises and where he has been going and visiting and how long he has been spending or stopping at one location,” mentioned Yap. “We also have the advanced visitor management system and that could be integrated into the access control database.”

A very important aspect of the SI business, especially when it comes to integration, involves picking the right brands to work with. ICD partnered up with several third-party partners like Lenel, S2, Tyco Security Products, Genetec and Milestone Systems, but remained selective when it comes to adding to their product portfolio. “We keep open but we tend to be very careful. You really want to know one product solutions in depth, broadly,” he said. “We have investments into manpower and costs to really learn and pick up on one solution from top to down.”

The company also regularly evaluates the brands it is working with, making sure that their strategies are aligned and the products are on trend. “We do an annual review with our partner. Are they giving us the best support? Are they taking this partnership seriously as well? Or do they keep opening up different partnerships to different competitors so that we don't have any advantage at all?” he said. “We also do a review as well from their technology, it is keeping up with the market trend? The support, the costing, has that been really competitive enough.”